Safari! -- week 55

The beginning of the week in the office was pretty normal -- paying bills, working on Elders coming and going, organizing updated 72-hour emergency kits before Zone Conferences next week.

One of our responsibilities is to help take care of all the apartments.  We had some Elders in Hillcrest -- about 30 minutes west of us -- who needed a new stove delivered.  It was just a table-top model with two burners and a small oven.  We drove up there Monday evening.  One of their neighbors had this great gadget.  It is a portable solar electric car charger.  What a good idea!

On Thursday morning we met President and Sister Lines at their home about 9:30 AM and started our trip out to Nambiti Game Reserve.  We were originally supposed to take this trip in April 2020.  But like so many things in 2020 this trip got postponed.  First until September, then until January, then until early February, and finally we made it this weekend!

Nambiti Game Reserve is about a three-hour drive northeast of Durban, not too far from Ladysmith (the region of the Boer Wars 120 years ago between the Afrikaaner farmers, the British army and the Zulus).  Elder and Sister Van Heerden joined us, and we had a fabulous three days there.  There are way too many fabulous photos to post, but we'll put a sample here.

We did Glamping at Springbok Lodge.  [That's glamorous camping -- a tent like we've never stayed in before.]   Ken is going to make a video of our adventure, but no time to do it today.  We'll post it next week.  In the meantime Springbok Lodge has a wonderful video on their webpage of the animals.  

Sue took this photo in the round of the lodge and pool area.  

Springbok Lodge, Nambiti Game Reserve - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

We brought our swimsuits, but it was too cold to do much swimming.  The original weather forecast for the weekend was lots of rain, but we only had one little drizzle!

Nambiti Game Reserve is about 11 km long and 3-4 km wide.  

It consists of several different privately-owned parcels, and there are ten different lodges where you can stay.  But you can't even drive through in a private car.  We arrived at the main gate (in the southeast corner of the map) and went to the parking lot where we left our car and were ferried to the Lodge in the Toyota Land Rover that was our vehicle during our stay.  

We drove all over everywhere in the four different game drives we did.  We went Thursday afternoon 4 PM to 7 PM and Friday morning 5:30 AM to 8:30 AM.  Then again the same schedule on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.  We saw so many amazing animals, birds, insects, flowers and general scenery.  It's a trip we will always remember!

We arrived in time for lunch on Thursday, had a little time to wander around and get unpacked, and then left at 4 PM for a three-hour game drive on jeep trails. 

Waiting to start game drive - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Impala -- we saw lots and lots of these.

Baby giraffe by the side of the road.   

And several full-sized giraffes, too.

With lots and lots of gorgeous views across the plains and valleys.  This is high plateau area -- about 3600 feet above sea level with this valley in the middle.

 

We also saw lots of kudu -- another kind of African antelope.  

This is a Cape Buffalo.  The kind with the amazing horns like in our jigsaw puzzle.

 

In the middle of each game drive there would be a break to stretch our legs and have a snack.

Afternoon drinks and snacks. - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

We learned a new collective noun -- a confusion of guinea fowl.  And isn't that the truth.  These crazy birds would see us coming and run down the road right in front of us -- not fly away or veer off to one side.  And the tiny chicks would keep up with the adults.  None of them run very fast.  

We got to see beautiful zebras up close and personal.  The are zebras [rhymes with Debra], not zeebras as we say in American.  

After the morning game drive we had a wonderful breakfast.  The food at Springbok is amazing!  We all ate too much.  Here is Friday lunch:

Fish and chips or vegetable quiche. - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

To wear off some of that food we walked on a nature trail around the fenced compound that is Springbok Lodge.  There is a 2 m (6 ft) tall electric fence, but while walking we saw two kudu inside the fence!  They can jump it easily.

Walking around Springbok Lodge compound. - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Both white rhinos (in this photo) and black rhinos are in Nambiti.  We saw both kinds, but not very close.  They are all endangered because poachers kill them for their horns, which are valued for various rituals in Asia.  To help solve the problem, the Nambiti Reserve catches the rhinos every 3 to 4 years and cuts down the horns to very short so the poachers are not interested.  They grow about three inches a year.  We loved this view of the huge rhino against the horizon.  

We sort-of saw hippos.  They are nocturnal, so spend all day in the water, just coming up to breathe.  Can you spot the eyes?

We really wanted to see cheetahs, but the whole park only has five and they are fairly reclusive.  Then our guide Nadine got a call on her radio that there were some not too far from where we were.  And here they are just lying in the middle of the road!  They do have tracking collars on, but the safari guides do not have access to the location information.  The Reserve doesn't want all the trucks just following the animals around.

We also managed to get really, really close to this big bull elephant feeding.  He was amazing -- pulling whole branches off the tree and stuffing into his mouth.  

Trivia we learned for our son Tim and other like-minded teen-age boys.  Elephants poop every 30 minutes and Zebras fart every 7-10 seconds!!

On Friday afternoon and Saturday morning we were joined by Mohammad and Aadila -- a brother and sister from Johannesburg.  They had two long-lens cameras and took some amazing photos that they shared with us.

I think this is a favorite -- the herd of wildebeests on the grass airstrip in the Reserve.  Good way to keep the grass short?

Our guide Nadine took this photo of the same animals, but with these amazing sunbeams in the background.  We loved all the clouds because it can get really hot at Nambiti in the African summer.  (Think late August in the USA.)

Morning break was hot chocolate and muffins.

Hot chocolate stop on Saturday morning - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Aadila also took this picture of one of the cheetahs when it wandered off the road and sat in the grass.  If you didn't know it was there it would be very hard to spot!

We left, sadly, after brunch on Saturday morning.  We hope to come back again before we leave South Africa.

But the great weekend was not over.  We were invited home with the Van Heerden's for a braii -- that's South African for barbeque.  President and Sister DeKlerk also joined us.  He is the President of the Ladysmith District of our Church.  They have a farm that is three-hour drive from Ladysmith in the middle of nowhere, where they raise about 100 ceremonial Brahmin cattle for the Zulus.  His wife also runs a small general store in their farm.

There was lots and lots of good food!  South Africans like to braii meat.  We had steak, pork chops, lamb chops and chicken on skewers and sausage.  Also cheese, tomato & onion sandwiches warmed on the braii.  Then there was scalloped potatoes and coleslaw, with yummy cheesecake for dessert.  Quite a meal!

Sunday morning we went to church at the Ladysmith Chapel.  It is near downtown and has a great congregation.  They are limited to 50 people at once for church meetings, and there were about 35 there today.  We were each invited, from the pulpit on no notice, to give a short talk.  It was wonderful to have the opportunity to tell these good people of our love for our Savior Jesus Christ, and our joy to be in South Africa to share this with them and others.  

The two Elders who are currently serving in Ladysmith are Elder Matlepang and Elder Netshiheni.  Elder Netshiheni had served before the lockdown in Ladysmith, and then there were no missionaries here until about a month ago.  He is glad to be back.

Sue liked these flowers in the churchyard, because they remind her of home.  We have this same daisy plant next to the same canna lilies in our yard at home in Palo Alto.  We saw so many of God's beautiful creations this weekend.  We are blessed to see and appreciate the world around us.

Transfers and Temple -- week 54

It's been another wonderful week in Durban.  We had Transfer week, and we were able to attend the Durban Temple--twice!

The Durban Temple was dedicated as a House of the Lord on 16 February 2020.  We first arrived in Durban on 12 February, just in time to attend that wonderful dedication.

It closed in mid-March 2020, reopened for a bit in Sept, Oct, Nov 2020 and then was closed again.  It opened again after COVID-19 restrictions on 16 February 2021. 

In honor of the anniversary, our Social Media team, Elder Russell and Elder Pettijohn, made this fun video for the Durban Stake Facebook page.  They did the design and recording.  Ken did the editing.  

Temple attendance is still highly restricted to one or two people in a session who are going for the first time, and up to 16 people total.  Normally missionaries attend the temple for the first time with their families before they start their missions.  But with all the temples closed almost everywhere, we had six new missionaries here who needed to go for the first time.  For three of them who are from South Africa their parents were able to come and join them.  We were able to attend on Tuesday evening and Saturday afternoon with two Elders who did not have family come with them.  It was so good to be there and feel the special Spirit in this sacred place.  

On Monday we had another Senior Couple arrive in the mission to help.  Hooray!  It is Elder and Sister Van Heerden from East London -- about 700 km (400 mi.) south of Durban.  They served a mission here earlier and had been home about 18 months.  They are going to live out in Ladysmith to support the missionaries as we spread back out to western parts of the mission.  

Tuesday was the last day of Missionary Training Center in the Mission Office.  We are sorry to see these wonderful Elders leave us.  It gets boring in the office with no one there but us two.

However, they were most excited to get out of that stuffy room where they stared at screens all day.  They are now out with their new companions doing real missionary work, and that's great!  They are Elder Slater, Elder Lusuko, Elder Bibb, Elder Mere and Elder Davies-Ogunshakin.  Elder Slater is from Cape Town.  Elder Lusuko is from Zambia.  The other three are from Johannesburg area.

They were sent out to their areas, but this was a very small Transfer Week, as we had no one going home at all.  We wrote last week about Elder Raralevu going home, and now we have no one else leaving until 2 April!

We went to the Temple on Tuesday with Elder Thwala.  He is from Ladysmith and was leaving the next day for his missionary service in Cape Town.  He was actually supposed to fly there on Tuesday morning, but he delayed his mission start by one day so that he could attend the Temple first.  Otherwise he would have gone to Cape Town for his first three weeks of training, and then flown back to Durban for a day to attend the Temple.  This worked out better.

Back row:  Elder & Sister Allen, Sister & Elder Van Heerden, President & Sister Lines

Front row:  Elders Mbonyana, Thwala, Van Orden, Alotsa & Chola.

On Saturday afternoon we went to the Temple again, this time with Elder Banda. He received his mission call to South Africa Durban almost a year ago and was supposed to be here in June 2020 from his home in Zambia. Of course in June the borders were closed, so he finally arrived in Durban on 1 February 2021 after serving seven months in the Zambia Lusaka Mission.  Currently his companion is Elder Manamela from Johannesburg.

It was a beautiful day in Durban, as most are.  Those attending the temple with Elder Banda were (L-R) Back row:  Elder & Sister Allen, Sister and President Lines, Elder Banda.  Front row:  Elders Chifarimba, Mokhoanatsi & Manamela.

Saturday was also Elder Allen's birthday, so after the Temple session, we went out to dinner with President and Sister Holmes and Elder & Sister Futter.  The Holmes are the Temple President and Matron.  Futters are Counselor and Assistant Matron.  They all live in the Temple housing just across the driveway from the Temple and serve for three years.

President and Sister Lines were not able to come with us, but Sister Lines is an amazing cakemaker.  She made a beautiful cake for Elder Allen.  She left it in the fridge in the Temple housing and presented it to Ken after we finished in the Temple.  She does gorgeous delicious cakes for any little occasion.

This cake needs a little explaining.  Last November when we were getting ready to come back to Durban, President Lines called and asked us what kind of vehicle we would like.  With so many missionaries transferred away, the mission has lots of cars.  Our choices were between a Ford Ranger pick-up, a Renault Duster (small SUV), a Suzuki Ertiga (small SUV) or a Toyota Corolla.  Sue chose the Duster--a good medium-size diesel.  Ken said "No, what I really want is an electric self-driving Porsche."  President laughed.  We got the Duster.  However, the request has become a running joke with us, so the cake has a Porsche attached to a 9V battery on top.

The Temple is in an upscale neighborhood just north of Durban and near the beach called uMhlanga.  We drove down to the beach with the Holmes and Futters and went to dinner at the uMhlanga Arch, an area next to hotels and close by the beach with lots of restaurants.  

We ate in a food-court kind of place where we got a good salad from one stand and yummy burgers from another.  

After dinner we came back to the Temple housing and shared the beautiful cake. 

And the cake had another surprise!  Sister Lines cut some cake out and filled the middle with M&Ms! 

Sunday morning we went to Church in Pinetown again, hoping to meet our friend from the gondola ride, but he didn't come.  The Elders have connected with him, so maybe they will see him next week.  We will be gone--off on a great adventure.  Stay tuned!  [How's that for a cliff-hanger.]

Sue is not even going to post a photo of the puzzle.  Maybe five pieces got put in this week, and Sister Van Heerden did two of them!  

But Sue has been knitting.  She finished her slippers a couple of weeks ago.   

Sue also has been doing knitted knockers. This is all she has done since we arrived in early December.  What are these?  Explanation here.

The yarn store where Sue shops here has connections to the local cancer hospital and will help distribute.  They have done these before -- even though they were invented Washington state, USA!

It is summer and everything is in bloom. In this tropical humid climate the flowers are gorgeous.  This plant was growing next to the Church parking lot.  Flowers are about 6" across.

And this tree was across the street.  There are many of these trees around with lots of bright, bright orange blossoms.  The photo doesn't do it justice -- too much back light.

We can't forget a monkey picture for the grandkids.  This tree outside our living room window is home for a big troop of monkeys.  We see them running in and out of it a lot, but seldom does one sit still long enough for a photo.  This monkey is about 40 ft high sitting on a fairly thin branch.  There is a very steep hill going up behind the tree.

CHURCH!! -- week 53

 We got to go to Church today!!  

It is the first time we have been to Church services since we went to Molweni Branch on March 15, 2020.  Eleven months out of Church is eleven months too long.  The thing that kept us going was Zoom Church with our home ward in Palo Alto.  That weekly meeting to share with our fellow Saints has been our spiritual/social sustenance.  We can study scriptures and have sacrament at home by ourselves.  But hearing talks from others and meeting in break-out rooms after Church just to gab, have made life a little more normal -- whatever that is this year.

Today we went to Pinetown Ward -- about 10 km (6.2 m) west of us.  We went there to meet a man who President Lines talked to about the Church when we went on our gondola ride a few weeks ago.  Unfortunately he didn't make it.  But we had a good meeting with about 45 people there.  Attendance limit in South Africa right now is 50 for Church meetings.  The ward has an A week and a B week so only half come each time.

The meetinghouse had a foot-pedal operated hand-sanitizer bottle just inside the door, the same thing at any store you go to anywhere.  And there was someone sitting inside taking temperatures, writing down names and keeping count.  [In a drug store this week I saw a door-guard with two small bins of clothes pins.  When someone came in, a pin went from left bin to right bin.  When someone went out a pin went the other way.  Great easy way to make sure the store never had too many people in it.]

Every-other-row in the chapel was marked to be left vacant, and people spread out on the rows that were used.  It all worked fine. 

Usually the bread for sacrament is broken in pieces, put on a tray and people take a piece.  That procedure is not so COVID-friendly.  I was wondering how they would do it.  Instead they used the water trays.  We use water for sacrament in little tiny cups. 

Today they broke the bread and put each piece into a sacrament water cup.  Since everyone was seated only every-other row, the person passing the sacrament could easily walk the rows in between, and he was the only one who touched the tray.  We each took a cup of bread, slid down the mask to eat it.  After the prayer on the water, each took a cup of water and slid down the mask to drink it.  All very sanitary and social-distanced.  

There were two speakers.  Young Elder Chifarimba spoke about counting our blessings.  Even in these tough times we do have so much to be grateful for!  Another Brother spoke about Love -- appropriate for Valentine's Day! It was a powerful, thoughtful message.

We do feel the love of God and our Savior Jesus Christ.  We have so many blessings from them that we can be grateful for.

Baptisms!

Saturday night (morning in Utah) we were able to attend (via video link) the baptism of our granddaughter Hazel Schmalbeck in Saratoga Springs, Utah.  Hazel actually turned 8 years old last July, but due to COVID restrictions, the baptism finally happened yesterday.  Hooray!  We took a screenshot of her afteerwards, ready to be confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  

But then the phone in Utah died and we missed the actual confirmation.  But we had a nice visit with her other grandparents -- the Footes in New Mexico -- while we were all hoping for the video to come back.

And after Church today in Pinetown, there was also a special baptismal service where four new members were added to the Church.  We didn't go into the room where the baptism happened because it was small and the space was needed for their close family and friends.  But we were glad to see them take this great step in their lives.  

One of the blessings we have while living in Durban is beautiful scenery.  This is the freeway between our house and Pinetown chapel.  Ken calls it the jungle road.  And right now there are a lot of trees with bright pink and purple flowers in full bloom.  

Office Work

Now it's time to back up and talk about the earlier parts of the week.  Monday to Thursday -- normal office stuff all day.  

Finally, after weeks of canceled flights to New Zealand, Elder Raralevu did get on the plane to start his trek home to Fiji on Monday.  He was one of the Assistants to President Lines, and lived upstairs from us, so we knew him better than most of the Elders.  He had to fly to Johannesburg, then to Doha Qatar -- an eight-hour flight and then a 20-hour layover before he could leave there for Auckland, New Zealand.

He could not leave the airport in Doha because he did not have a visa, so he had lots of time to wander around.  He sent Ken a photo of this car that was on display.  Ken's affinity for Porsche's is well known around the office.

Elder Raralevu made it to Auckland --- an 18-hour flight, including a stop in Brisbane, Australia to refuel.  But he couldn't even get off the plane there.  Then after another five-hour layover, he flew to his final destination in Nadi, Fiji -- where he is now in a mandatory fourteen-day quarantine in a government-sponsored hotel.  But we are so glad he got that far!  The flight from Auckland to Nadi only goes every two weeks, so a missed connection anywhere along the way would be a real problem.

Sue tried to work on the puzzle a little in the evenings but got almost nowhere.  She did find the missing pieces for noses of buffalo and rhino.  Saturday before Hazel's baptism, she managed to get a little of the elephant trunk at the very bottom.  It's now a very slow process.  

Date Night

Friday night we went out to dinner, as usual.  We've mentioned before about all the construction in our neighborhood around the freeway on/off ramps.  We left the office and started up the on ramp.  But we had to go slowly because we were following a steam roller, and there was another one coming down towards us.  They were repaving the road but not bothering to close it!  They couldn't really, because the frontage roads on both sides are already closed because of the construction.

We were going to eat at Roco-Mama's in the mall to the west of us.  We tried to go there a couple of weeks ago at 6:30pm, but the line was too long.  This week we arrived at 5:20pm and got almost the last table.  The line was long when we left an hour later.

They have yummy milkshakes!  

Also, huge baskets of fries, and hamburgers with good stuff that drips out all over.  Ken had a salad and really messy ribs.  Sue had a cheese/guac/bacon burger.  

South African Culture Day

Saturday morning we decided to visit the Phansi Museum in Berea.  (Pronounced punsi.)  That's an area of Durban between us and downtown.  (The roads over the hills are so steep that they make San Francisco's hill look flat.  Sue's favorite yarn store is in that neighborhood, too.)  This is a museum of indigenous Zulu art, and it is wonderful.  The building is an old family estate from the 1850's and is a national monument in its own right.  It has lovely stained-glass windows and beautiful woodwork.

We had a guide named Similo.  He is their cataloger and was there working on a Saturday morning to keep the museum open.  He explained to us about the different kinds of pots and their uses. 

We loved the clothing.  They had lots of beaded aprons.  The pattern on the apron denoted the marital status of the woman -- unmarried, married, mother of children, old woman.  It was interesting to see how the patterns changed and became louder in color when cheaper plastic beads replaced the original glass ones.  

And they had a wall of head rests for sleeping.  They don't look nearly as comfortable as a down pillow for sure!  The jars on the top shelf are milk jugs, and each has a pattern that shows to which clan it belongs.  That makes thievery difficult.

One floor had life-size cloth mannequins wearing clothing from the different Zulu clans.  

There was this huge headdress.  We thought it was for the king or some such.  No -- it is early marketing.  A rickshaw driver made and wore it to call attention to his business!  You have to look carefully to even see the face in the middle.

For our granddaughter, Myra: here is the cheetah skin rug, especially decorated for the Zulu queen! 

As with most museums, the Phansi is struggling with COVID restrictions and is threatened with closure.  They are looking for donations, if you are interested in helping.  Their website is www.phansi.com/donate.  

We like this quote about their purpose.

Ubuntu art honours and celebrates the present and the future by promising to protect identity and inheritance by safeguarding the art and imagination, for the children of tomorrow.  This is particularly true in our country where the youth has all but forgotten the pain of the past and discovered how art became the tool of liberation, of identity and sanity. Today’s South Africa seems to be only mining its past for the guilty and not for the brave. In the process it deprives millions of their glorious roots and philosophy and art that underpinned it.

- - - - - -

Saturday afternoon we stopped by our local mall to buy some mops and sheets for various apartments.  It looks like any mall anywhere.

And at the bottom of the escalator they had set up a donation station for the national blood bank.  Good idea to get drop-ins!

Ken is having fun editing videos being made by the young Elders as part of the proselyting efforts via social media. The latest effort will appear on Facebook on February 16, commemorating the one-year anniversary of the dedication of the Durban Temple, which we attended at the time!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We love you all!  (Especially the grandchildren.)